admin | Posted: 25 Jul 2019 | Updated: 8 Nov 2020

Wuerffel Trophy honors Uriah Leiataua on 2019 Watch List

main image
Image

FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. – The Wuerffel Trophy, presented by Chick-fil-A Foundation, announced BYU defensive lineman Uriah Leiataua as one of 93 players on the 2019 watch list Thursday.

The Wuerffel Trophy, known as "College Football's Premier Award for Community Service," is presented each February in Fort Walton Beach.  Named after 1996 Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Danny Wuerffel from the University of Florida, the Wuerffel Trophy is awarded to the FBS player that best combines exemplary community service with athletic and academic achievement.

Leiataua has played in 16 games for the Cougars while assisting in BYU's True Blue Hero program, celebrating local community members that are enduring various hardships including terminal illness and other struggles.

The 6-foot-4, 255-pounder from Compton, California, also works with the program's Autism Awareness Football Camp and is a leader on the team in organizing intermediate and high school visits that help students understand how they can be successful athletically and academically as well as members of the community.

Leiataua, a business major, helps organize hospital visits and team Christmas caroling around the holidays. 

He also served a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Apia, Samoa.

Leiataua is also a nominee for the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, the annual award given to college football players for the impact they make off the field.

Recent Stories

Image
Connor Pay 2023 Rimington Trophy
Pay selected to the Rimington Trophy watchlist for a second year

BYU center Connor Pay was named to the 2023 Rimington Trophy preseason watchlist for the second season in row.

Image
John Mackey Award 2023 Isaac Rex
Rex named to the Mackey watch list for a third consecutive season

For the third straight year, BYU junior Isaac Rex has been named to the John Mackey Award Watch List, presented…